UK suppliers benefit most from Olympic construction

This week the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) sent out a message declaring “UK companies the biggest winners as Olympic Park ‘big build’ nears completion”.
With just over a year to go until the start of the London 2012 Games, the ODA announced it is coming to the end of its procurement after awarding more than 1,500 direct contracts worth more than £6 billion, 98 per cent of which have gone to UK-based companies.
It said these direct deals have resulted in tens of thousands of supply chain contracts spread across the UK.
For example, the ODA’s contract for the construction of the Olympic Stadium resulted in work for 240 UK companies plus many more sub-contractors. The ODA said: “This included the turf which was grown in Scunthorpe, seats from Luton, steel from Bolton, and concrete terracing units from Taunton. And more than 40 UK companies, plus many more sub-contractors, won work on the Velodrome, including the timber for the track from Sheffield, seating structures from Barnsley and the internal cladding from Cambridge.”
And efforts to involve British businesses are far from over. Sebastian Coe, chairman of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (Locog), said this week that his organisation was about halfway through its own procurement programme and there are “lots more opportunities for British business to be part of the greatest show on earth”.
Procurement should be proud of its part in this legacy. Locog procurement director Gerry Walsh told us back in 2009 that he hoped they would be making British industry “more capable and more competent”.
And ODA chairman John Armitt said many companies have used their work on the Olympic Park as a showcase with which to go on and win other projects across the world.
So while there were some concerns raised recently about progress on making this “the most sustainable games ever”, in this area, at least, it seems there can be little doubt about what’s already been achieved.
☛ Click here to read more about the sustainability of the London Olympic Games